Glow

Κλασικό Πιάνο για Μωρά

Aria from Goldberg Variations BWV 988.

As it grows increasingly apparent that humanity lacks the wherewithal to unify over the existential threat of climate change, my response has been to write music intended to evoke, in the hearts and minds of those who hear it, a comprehension that it is humanity's obligation to act as caretakers, rather than destroyers, of the life that surrounds us. This album includes three orchestral works from my Music for the Earth series.

GAIA’S LAMENT. In the background, music for violin and orchestra was playing for quite a while, but I didn’t quite muster the courage to embark on writing it down until recently. At the time I began to think seriously about writing a concerto for violin, the United Nations was in session and what, if anything, would come out of the climate change discussions was the hot topic of the day. The young activist Greta Thunberg had sailed to the U.S. on a solar powered sailing vessel and having been invited to speak before the assembled members, gave all of the adults in the room the thrashing they well deserved. With all of this going on, somehow a scene from the 1960 film of H.G. Wells “The Time Machine” kept coming to mind – a brief scene where he travels to the far, far distant future to arrive to find a dying earth, a huge red sun suspended on the horizon, and a desolate landscape nearly devoid of life.

It was with this somber vision that I set about writing music, filled with sorrow at what our species is doing to our only home, with little hope that we have the awareness, rationality or willingness to act as we must.

GAIA’S SONG.  A companion work to Gaia’s Lament, this bucolic music was nearing completion when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its Sixth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2021. While reading the findings of the report was, unsurprisingly, deeply distressing, my vision for the earth which helped inform the writing of the music is the opposite. A vision for humanity that is built on hope rather than the reality of human nature, one where humans come to recognize our responsibilities as caretakers rather than destroyers of the earth and the living creatures with whom we share the planet. This is gentle music, intended to inspire a gentler approach to living.

Whatever anger or despair I feel at the realization that our species will prove, in all likelihood, incapable of taking the necessary actions to stave off environmental catastrophe in the coming decades, I laid those feelings aside when writing this song. Let Gaia sing, not a song of lament, but a song of peace and hope.

SEASON OF RAIN. A symphony in four movements, composed during a mostly rainy season. The music is also a rather somber reflection on the state of the world, as it becomes devastatingly apparent that climate change is a certainty and, at the same time, the rise of populist politics around the world makes it equally certain that humanity will not respond to the alarms.


Gaia's Song (Andante)

A dreamy instrumental interlude, setting the mood for the EP with pastel soundscapes and ethereal textures.

Love Interludes

This perfect Lovesong was created due to the audience choice of Composers and Emotions. Thanks to all the inspiration.

Perfect Lovesong 15.2.2025 Schloss Elmau

Gaien Piano Salon Record presents
Winter Concert2025@代官山教会

Elegy 無言歌集より - Mendelssohn

Timeless Steps Beneath Open Canopies

Hushed Reflections Beneath Twilight Canopies

Rheinberger Abendlied  Easter 2025 at Union UCC Hopedale

Between Chords and Silences

Sonatine pour piano, II. Mouvement de Menuet

Home-made tunes, rhythms and pulses of a digital palette. Whistle along.

Glow

Peter McDonnell